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“Pina, you can come out now.”
“Yes, Father.”

As the Pope watched the traveler’s retreating figure returning to the streets after leaving the temple, he called out the name of someone who had been quietly hiding nearby until now.

Then, the air distorted once and a girl revealed herself. The girl, with long platinum blonde hair like the Pope’s, was wearing the high priest’s robe given only to candidates for the next Pope.

As the girl revealed herself, the Pope, with the kind smile he always wore on his face, asked her about the situation she had been observing from when they entered the room until now.

“So, Pina. What were your impressions after seeing the traveler in person?”
“Well, that… it was…”
“Hm?”

She was one of the candidates for the next Pope. That’s why he had hidden her, hoping she would feel something while observing the traveler chosen by Goddess Iriel.

However, when the Pope asked for her impressions, Pina, unlike her cool appearance just moments ago, started to mumble and gradually lowered her head.
Puzzled by this strange behavior, the Pope let out a questioning sound, but soon he could only grab his head after hearing her speak clearly, albeit softly.

“She… she was cute…”
“Pina, what are you… No, no, no… Well, I suppose it’s like you to say something like that.”
“I-I’m sorry, Father…”

Seeing Pina blurt out an impression of cuteness, of all things, the Pope patted her head.

From long ago, Pina had always been weak to cute things, so if it was the appearance of the mage girl that the traveler had transformed into at the end, it must have been enough to fall into her strike zone.
Of course, when Pina said something was cute, she strictly meant it looked cute on the outside, so there was no need to pay too much attention to it.

Therefore, the Pope stroked Pina’s head a bit more before looking out at the street where the traveler had passed and said something that would surprise Pina.

“It seems the traveler noticed your presence.”
“What? How could that be! There was surely no sign of that…!”

Pina exclaimed, her shoulders shaking greatly at the Pope’s calm words. She was certain that not once had the traveler shown any awareness of her presence, so how could they have noticed her?

However, the Pope shook his head at Pina’s denial, as if he was already certain.

“When leaving the room, she definitely looked at where you were, then smiled at me. Moreover, while talking with me, she spoke in a roundabout way. She probably noticed your presence but deliberately chose not to point it out.”
“Then why…”
“Probably because she knew I didn’t hide you with bad intentions.”
“I… see. That certainly makes sense.”

Pina nodded, understanding the Pope’s words. The Pope had hidden Pina purely out of hope that she might learn something from the traveler. Nothing more, nothing less.

With the hope that she might learn something from the traveler who Goddess Iriel herself had guaranteed possessed power enough to overturn heaven and earth and part the seas.

Pina also knew this intention, so she had observed her with utmost concentration. The impression of cuteness was just a part of it, but only a part. Pina carefully voiced another impression she had felt while observing her.

“She was incredibly strong, just as Lady Iriel had said. Someone like me wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“Yes, that’s exactly right, Pina.”

An impression that felt all the more real precisely because it was so obvious. It was none other than the traveler’s strength.

Pina didn’t think she was weak. No, rather, she was on the stronger side.

Holy power that could instantly heal most wounds and illnesses and purify lesser evil spirits in an instant, physical abilities comparable to decent adventurers, and even elemental magic that, although still immature, could handle monsters up to C-rank danger level.

Since her body and mind had grown, Pina had never lost to anyone she had sparred with.

However, the moment she saw the traveler, Pina instinctively knew. That she could never defeat that being.

Just looking at her gave that much of an impression. Even though she didn’t show any particular hostility, Pina couldn’t imagine a future where she could even touch a hair on the traveler’s body in a fight.

And the Pope, who knew better than anyone that Pina had felt such an impression, agreed with her words and continued.

“But that’s precisely why you should be grateful for your fortune to be able to learn from the traveler, Pina.”
“Of course, I am grateful. Extremely so.”
“Hoho, good. And the fact that the traveler showed us her other body despite being aware of your presence means she trusts us that much, so we must never commit the mistake of carelessly revealing this.”
“Of course, Father. That goes without saying.”

Pina immediately bowed at the Pope’s words, spoken in a serious tone.

The fact that she showed her hidden body, which could be called a secret, despite being aware of her presence, meant that she trusted Lady Iriel and this temple that believed in her.

Neither the Pope nor Pina had any intention of betraying this trust.

The Pope looked at the sky, which was about to turn into sunset, and raised Pina who was still bowing.

“Now then, let’s prepare for the festival. It would be good for you to make some friends before entering the academy, Pina.”
“Yes, Father. I’ll prepare right away.”

Now that all the temple business was done, as father and daughter rather than Pope and Pina, they walked into the temple, leaving laughter behind them.

After receiving word from the Pope that someone would be sent to secure the positions as soon as I asked, I spent a few more hours talking with him before leaving the temple and heading towards the central street of the Kingdom of Phara.

Since I had resolved the reason I originally needed to enter the Kingdom of Phara quickly, which was to secure the professor positions at Lua Academy, there was no need to rush, so I took my time before leaving the temple.

When I left the temple, it was already dusk. Just before reaching the central street, I entered an alley and opened the Avatar window.

“Meiel’s body is too prone to getting caught up in incidents.”

Although it was a small and cute body of Meiel that even I thought was well-made, it also seemed easy to get caught up in problems like kidnapping or scams in such a bustling area, so I decided to change bodies.

Kama’s body is pretty, but it’s a problem because it’s just too pretty on the outside, and the body of Yujia from the qi master job class is a problem because it stands out too much. The chef job class Yeonhwa’s outfit was too chef-like to be a problem.

Therefore, I chose Aria’s body, the only one left by process of elimination.

[Do you want to select Swordsman – Aria?]

“Select.”

After answering, my vision suddenly heightened, and I blinked a few times to adjust. Unlike the somewhat stuffy robe, I felt my breath freshen in Aria’s cloth armor, and I stretched my body with a few cracks.

“As expected, I’m not sure about the speech pattern, but this body is the most comfortable physically. It suits me well.”

Is it because it’s my main character?

I hesitated for a moment at this reasonable doubt, but soon realized there were more important things than these trivial matters and shook my head to clear away the idle thoughts.

What’s important now is to find the academy characters that will appear after the festival starts.

Of course, I had no intention of running around looking for them myself. I would see all their faces eventually when I become a professor at the academy, so I just planned to enjoy the festival excitedly and naturally form connections with the children I see.

“If I search too much, that would look strange in its own way. It’s not really cool in the first place.”

It’s not stylish at all.

Nodding at my own reasoning, which I found valid, I left the alley where I had briefly stopped to change bodies and walked towards the central street of the Kingdom of Phara. After walking for a short while, I arrived at the bustling street filled with people.

Murmur murmur──

“As expected, festival days are lively and nice~ Even if we’re too old to enjoy it much.”
“Kids! Come quick! Over here, over here!”
“Mom! I want to buy this!!”
“It’s a festival day, so isn’t it okay to splurge a bit once in a while! What do you think?”
“Hurry and grab that side! Our shop is the last one to open!”

As if announcing that the festival had truly begun, the bustling voices of people of all ages filled my ears.

Middle-aged women gathered in groups chatting, children who looked like academy students, and little kids ran through the streets lined with numerous tents. On top of that, merchants were shouting to sell their wares from their respective shops, making me feel like I might get swept up in the atmosphere without realizing it.

However, getting flustered and bewildered at such a festival is something only amateurs do. I quickly gathered my wits and moved my feet, which had momentarily stopped.

“Let’s see if there’s anything enjoyable at the festival.”

As I came to where people were gathered, Aria’s manner of speaking naturally came out filtered. However, I had long since grown accustomed to it, so I nonchalantly looked around as I walked down the street.

There were quite a few things that looked fun, like knocking down dolls by throwing balls, which you might see at a carnival, or dalgona candy picking, or popping balloons with darts, but nothing particularly caught my eye.

Rather, it seemed that I, with my beautiful appearance and two swords at my side, was attracting the attention of others, but fortunately, everyone was too busy with the festival atmosphere to do more than glance briefly before going about their business.

As I walked aimlessly through the streets where all sorts of shops were set up, my eyes suddenly lit up at the sign of one shop that came into view.

“Oh, a Tournament of the Chosen Sword?”

The content written on the sign hanging in front of a temporarily erected tent. To summarize, it’s a competition to pull out a sword that no one has been able to pull out, like Mjolnir from a past life.

If you pull out the sword, the prize money is 100 gold. While it was unlikely that such a sword actually existed in a temporary tent like this, and it reeked of fraud no matter how you looked at it, the people visible inside the tent and their enthusiastic voices made it impossible for my interest to fade.

In the end, deciding to go inside and check it out myself before making a judgment, I lifted the tent flap and pushed through the crowd gathered in a circle inside, and.

“…Hm?”

Seeing the face of the person with their hand on the sword hilt in the center of the circular crowd, I unconsciously let out an awkward laugh and tilted my head.

A girl with black ponytail hair and navy blue eyes. She was wearing the Lua Academy uniform and had a sword at her waist, so it was impossible not to recognize her.

The representative character of the swordsman job class, who could be called the original of this body, Aria.

‘Why is Arin appearing there?’

Why are you here, you fool.